Three European leaders headed to Kyiv on Tuesday as Russian forces bombarded the Ukrainian capital and other cities nearly three weeks into Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.
Russian shelling hit Kyiv early Tuesday, including one that struck an apartment building, killing at least two people. Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko announced a 36-hour curfew for the city beginning Tuesday night.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said he was traveling to Kyiv on Tuesday along with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa to represent the European Council in a meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
“The purpose of the visit is to confirm the unequivocal support of the entire European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” Fiala said. “The aim of this visit is also to present a broad package of support for the Ukraine and Ukrainians.”
“In such critical times for the world it is our duty to be where history is forged,” Morawiecki wrote on Facebook. “Because it’s not about us, but about the future of our children who deserve to live in a world free from tyranny.”
The European Union announced a new round of sanctions against Russia that includes bans on transactions with certain state-owned companies or new investments in Russia’s energy sector, as well as tighter trade restrictions on iron, steel and luxury goods.
There are also sanctions targeting “key oligarchs, lobbyist and propagandists pushing the Kremlin’s narrative on the situation in Ukraine as well as key companies in the aviation, military and dual use, shipbuilding and machine building sectors.”
“This fourth package of sanctions is another major blow to the economic and logistic base upon which Russia relies on to carry out the invasion of Ukraine,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement Tuesday. “The aim of the sanctions is that President Putin stops this inhuman and senseless war.” (AP/VOA)